Now is the chance to show that you aren’t a hypocrite!

The Liberal premiere of Ontario just prorogued the provincial legislature on a whim, seemingly so he can watch the olympics uninterrupted with annoying distractions… like, say, WORK.

Personally, I don’t care much, that’s how parliaments tend to function. It gets prorogued on the whim of the leader. That’s how our flavour of democracy works, although many people seem not to understand that, just like many Americans have difficulty grasping the fact that in their flavour of democracy they don’t actually vote for their President.

BUT, and it’s a big BUT… where are all the people kvetching about Dalton McGuinty stealing democracy? Surely if the prime minister is laughing in the face of democracy with his proroguing of parliament then Dalton is not only laughing but kicking democracy in the nuts by taking time off just for shits and giggles.

So where are all the howlers and whiners? Why aren’t there Facebook campaigns and news media articles bemoaning this travesty of democratic process? Even though it is demonstrable that, historically, the Liberals have prorogued parliament more often than the various incarnations of the Conservatives, that didn’t stop people from riding a wave of self-righteousness that started immediately upon the announcement that federal parliament was prorogued.

It’s my estimation that the reason there aren’t any howlers and media campaigns against McGuinty because the whiners and complainers are primarily partisan malcontents. The bitching about Harper’s proroguing had nothing to do with democracy, and everything to do with the fact he’s not a Liberal or NDP. Those people will not, for the most part, complain about what McGuinty has done and that makes the people who complained (and continue to complain) about Harper to be hypocrites and unworthy of respect. If it’s wrong for the Conservatives to do it, it’s wrong for the Liberals to do it… that’s clear enough. If you truly believe that proroguing is an affront to democracy, then it shouldn’t matter who is doing it – it must be wrong.

However, I’m fair – I invite everyone to prove me wrong. Let’s see the complainers and whiners get all wound up over McGuinty’s “disrespect of democracy” the same way they did about Harper’s. Sure, it means admitting the Conservatives are no worse than anyone else in this regard, but if you have self-respect and a modicum of personal dignity, you suck it up when you’re wrong and admit your error.